Saturday, 8 April 2017

Full text of Fashion and business icon, Alakija’s Keynote Address at Harvard University.

Venue: Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of
Government Institute of Politics Theme: Imagining New Frontiers for
Collaboration. Topic: Africa-The Renaissance of a New Continent via
Collaborative Efforts of Member states

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There is an African Proverb that
says,

“If you want to go FAST go alone,
but if you want to go FAR, go together”.

Also, Henry Ford once said,

“Coming together is a
beginning Keeping together is progress Working together is success.”

In other words, if we want to see
the Africa of our dreams, I mean the Africa that you and I will be proud of
bequeathing to our children and future generations, all of us must pitch in and
do our part. This laudable transformation quest can not be undertaken by a few
African States acting independently or in weak organised partnerships.

Every jurisdiction needs to be
consumed with the passion for a better tomorrow; contributing resources,
especially in areas where there is glaring comparative

advantage; and,
participating in active dialogues, such as what is happening today and tomorrow
during this conference.

I feel highly honoured to be here
and I wish to thank the organisers for the invitation to be the opening keynote
speaker at this African Development Conference 2017. I am particularly
delighted that the focus of these discourses moves away from merely
highligthing the many challenges of the African Continent. I sincerely look
forward to an epoch making weekend of many ideas and solutions, leapfrogging
Africa and bringing about a truly

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meaningful African Development for
her citizens in particular and mankind in general.

I will be speaking this evening on
what I have titled “Africa- The Renaissance of a New Continent via
Collaborative Efforts of Member states”. I shall review where we are coming
from and where we are now post- independence. I will also suggest how best to
collaborate to move our continent forward and conclude by highlighting the
efforts of some of Africa’s change makers.

I remember in the early days of
Pan-Africanism, the Founding Fathers of the movement such as: Kwame Nkrumah
(Ghana), Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Ahmed Sekou Toure (Guinea), collaborated
with their allies in the Western World such as Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Dr.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (better known as W.E.B. Du Bois), and others
to fight for our political freedom as a continent. It is time for us to
re-enact that same Pan-African spirit again, this time it should be directed at
tackling the myriads of developmental issues that are facing our resource rich
continent.

However, Africa post colonization
has not really fared better than its contemporaries in other climes and
continents. Two major reasons that can be attributed to the slow pace at which
the continent has been moving are:

• Corruption • Governance and Human rights issues

I will look into 5 areas where I
believe we can collaborate to build a formidable continent.

1. Corruption

Corruption in both our public and
private establishments have proved to be an albatross to the development of the
African Continent and Individual Member States. A situation that is fueled by
greed and an inordinate passion to acquire more than one needs has led to
individuals or organisations engaging in nefarious activities to further their
own agenda at the expense of the majority of the people.

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Facts

• According
to Transparency International, out of 100 most corrupt countries in the world,
there are 39 counties of African Origin.

• President
Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria declared that “if you don’t kill corruption, it
will kill you”.

How do we Collaborate?

• The
AU and other bodies like Transparency International should ensure
accountability from Heads of Governments to entrench Anti- Corruption practices
in their individual countries and sanctions should be meted out on any member
or individual found to err. There should not be any sacred cows or
untouchables. This will send a strong signal that such behaviour will no longer
be tolerated.

• Full
restitution should be encouraged while trade by barter should be removed.

• Civil
societies in individual countries must also rise to demand accountability from
their Government.

International Collaboration

• We
cannot prosecute this agenda further if we still have Countries and
Institutions who assist corrupt officials who have stolen public funds to keep
these monies in their banks and further their economies. There has been a
clamour by many African Countries for the repatriation of stolen monies by
corrupt leaders. I am using this medium to lend my voice to those requests. We
need these monies back so we can move Africa forward.

• The
United Nations should also, as a matter of urgency, compel Nations keeping
these monies to release them. They should not limit their role to trying
corrupt leaders. Though this is applauded, we certainly need our monies back. I
believe that most countries will no longer need financial aid if their stolen
funds can be repatriated to them to run their economy.

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• We
can also have collaboration among civil societies across African Nations
working together to present the continents case on repatriation of funds before
the United Nations.

2. Governance and Human Rights Abuse

Facts

• One
of the main objectives of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was “to
rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid.”

• When
the primary objective of the OAU was achieved, it was time to speed up economic
and political integration in the continent and this paved the way for the birth
of the African Union (AU) which was established on 9th September, 1999

• The
vision of the AU is that of “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa,
driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in global arena.”

• I
commend the African Union for entrenching the democratization process in the
Gambia recently. It is imperative that we stand together as a people to ensure
that the excesses of Heads of Government and

• Two
instruments adopted by the OAU to promote Human and People’s

Rights in the Continent are:

• The
African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Nairobi

1981)

• The
Grand Bay Declaration and Plan of Action on Human

rights

• In
2000, the Union established the fundamental principles for the

promotion of Democracy and Good
Governance in the Continent.

Collaboration Suggestions

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Human Right abuses are frowned at,
rejected and maybe even sanctioned.

• The
AU should ensure that there is strict adherence to all the instruments that
promote Human Rights in the continent and any Member State/Government that
flouts this principle should be decisively dealt with without fear or favour.

3. Health

Health is wealth. We can only talk
of taking giant strides as a continent when our people are strong, healthy and
vibrant both in body, mind and soul. Many lives are lost daily to preventable
sicknesses and diseases.

Facts

• Africa
just survived the worst Ebola crisis in history that ravaged 6 states in West
Africa, namely Nigeria, Sudan, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mali. It was
indeed a great horror as there were about 28,000 cases and over 11,000 deaths.
It is in such circumstances that our connectedness and the grave
vulnerabilities that we are exposed to by our neighbours’ deficiencies and
weaknesses is highlighted.

• According
to the report by the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, Sub-Saharan

Africa, is home to nearly 70% of
people living with HIV.

• Cost
of access to medical care is high in most African countries in terms

of drugs and equipment.

• Sub-Saharan
Africa has the lowest Doctor to Patient ratio in the world.

Collaboration Suggestions

• We
can collaborate by sharing knowledge on sickness and treatments

that have worked in a region to help
a sister country experiencing same

e.g. Nigeria assisted Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone in the

management and treatment of Ebola
victims by sending Doctors to

those countries. I have no data to
predict the number of fatalities that

could have resulted if we had not
been our brother’s keeper or had

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Member States not aided the
Government of those countries most

affected. I can only safely state that
the outcome would have been

worse, and the number of deaths
would have been far greater.

• Governments
can pull resources together in the research of drugs and

inventions that could help in the
diagnosis, treatments and cure of

diseases that are common to them.

International Collaboration

• Collaborative
assistance could also come from outside the continent

and from non-Africans. Someone may
say this has always been the case

and that we are not aliens when it
comes to receiving aids. However, I

am not talking about financial
resources only, but ideas and inventions

such as India’s Manu Prakash’s
foldscope and paperfuge.

o The Foldscope is a low-cost paper
microscope that does the same job as the conventional microscope but costs less
than $1 to build while the paperfuge is a 20- cent invention that could help in
the diagnosis of malaria, HIV and other diseases around the world.

4. Poor or lack of Infrastructure

There are many African countries
that suffer from poor infrastructure such as good rail and road networks,
access to potable water and power. In fact, most of the infrastructures that
are taken for granted in the Developed Countries are still luxuries in most
African Countries.

Facts

• 30
African countries face persistent energy blackouts.

• When
such breakthrough items become readily available, one can

expect that some of today’s
obstacles and intimidating challenges

would have either been better
managed, or successfully controlled. The

desire to find a cost-effective way
to deal with malaria is a global good,

• Less
than 5 percent of Agricultural land is irrigated. • Africa’s largest Infrastructural deficit are found in power and
roads.

Collaboration Suggestions

• Neighbouring
countries or regions can come together to build regional railways to ensure
easy and cheaper means of transportation of people, goods and services across
boundaries. E.g. the ECOWAS countries can pull funds together to do such across
West Africa.

• Governments
and policy makers can also encourage Foreign Direct Investments into their
economy by creating a conducive environment to attract business owners to
invest in building infrastructure and fund such projects that will positively
impact the lives of their nationals. This is because Africa does not need aid
but needs partnerships.

• Collaboration
fund between rich African countries to take up the expenses of poor African
Countries in providing infrastructure to ensure that the common good is
pursued. (This would be a once and for all investment by the richer states with
conditions that the poorer states facilitate continuous maintenance).

• It
is high time African countries change their mindset and move away from
protectionism to Africanism, from egocentrism to allocentrism.

5. Education and Technology

• According
to a World Bank Report on Educational Quality and National Growth 2007, access
to education is one of the highest priorities on the development agenda.

• Most
African Countries are ranked among the Developing Nations of the world today
because the educational quality in Developing Countries is much worse than
educational quantity, a picture already

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quite bleak. Educational quality,
measured by what people know, has powerful effects on individual earnings, on
the distribution of income, and on economic growth.

• It
plays a very crucial role in securing economic and social progress and improves
income distribution.

• Education
leads to an improvement in the quality of life and leads to broad social
benefits to individuals and the society at large.

Collaboration Suggestions

• In
order for Africa to move forward, there is need for African Governments to
invest in qualitative education at all levels by partnering with private
investors to bring about qualitative education.

Before I round up, let us take a
cursory look at some Africans who have been changing their world either in
their countries or also across borders.

1. PATRICE MOTSEPE (South African)

Africa's first black billionaire,
launched a new private equity firm focused on investing in Africa.

2. MO IBRAHIM (Sudanese)

Mohammed (Mo) Ibrahim’s Foundation
is focused on fighting corrupt leadership in Africa. The foundation also
publishes the well-known Ibrahim Index of African Governance, which ranks
countries by rule of law, economic opportunity and human rights.

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3. TONY ELUMELU (Nigerian)

Tony Elumelu, the Initiator of TEEP,
launched a $100m Pan-African entrepreneurship initiative, designed to help grow
10,000 start-up and young businesses from across Africa over the next 10 years.

4. STRIVE MASIYIWA(Zimbabwean)

Zimbabwe’s richest man set up a $6.4
million trust for sponsoring at least 40 African undergraduates to Moorehouse
College over a four- year period. His Christian charity sponsors scholarships
and medical assistance for over 28,000 orphaned Zimbabweans.

5. FRED SWANIKER (South African)

Swaniker co-founded the African
Leadership Academy in Johannesburg to develop 6000 leaders who are going to
transform Africa.

The Dangote Foundation is
responsible for contributing over $100 million in charitable funds to several
causes in Nigeria and Africa over the past four years.

8. MRS. FOLORUNSO ALAKIJA (Nigerian)

Mrs Alakija focuses on Widows, their
children and Orphans through economic empowerment schemes and scholarships to
tertiary levels.

In conclusion, this conference
affords us another opportunity to demonstrate the ingenuity and creativity
within us to build the Africa of our dreams. It’s about time we throw off the
toga of backwardness and underdevelopment and bring forth ideas and workable
plans that will give birth to a new Africa, our Africa. One, that is no longer
defined by poverty,

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disease and political instability,
but rather by inventions, scientific breakthroughs and technological
advancements, that will make us stand equal to other continents of the world.

As it has been rightly observed, we
tend to over estimate what can be done in a year; but we equally underestimate
what can be achieved in a decade. Yes, predicting the future can be daunting;
it is never an exact science, nor can we plot development on a linear time
scale; yet, so much can be done to engender the types of solutions that we
crave.

Why am I so positive about Africa’s
transformation?

It is because I believe strongly in
my heart that it is achievable.

Throughout history, it has always
been the case that solutions have often been birthed by stimulated turmoil,
some sort of controlled anarchy or organized chaos; bringing on some new sets of
eyes to look at an old problem. No idea should be rejected at first, every idea
must have its day in court, it should be given a chance to vent its merits and
flaunt its capabilities, especially this weekend.

I welcome everyone to this historic
event and I say “Let the collaborations begin!”